Nationals Rumors

The Nationals named John McLaren as their interim skipper last night, but the former M's skipper was just a temporary hire.  Here's the latest on the Nats as they look for a more permanent solution..

• It would come as a huge surprise if Davey Johnson was not the Nats manager Monday in Anaheim, Kilgore tweets.
• ESPN's Buster Olney (via Twitter) talked to a number of GMs, assistant GMs, and scouts over the last 24 hours and every single person said that Jim Riggleman made a major mistake.
• McLaren will serve as the Nats' interim manager until Sunday, when they wrap up a three game set against the White Sox, tweets Bill Ladson of MLB.com.  McLaren is not a candidate to become the interim manager of the team for the remainder of 2011 (via Twitter).General Manager Mike Rizzo is expected to name another interim manager by Monday.
• Rizzo said that Davey Johnson is a candidate to become the next manager of the Nationals, Ladson tweets.  Johnson currently serves as a senior adviser for the club.
• The GM confirmed that he has spoken to Johnson, tweets Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.  He went on to say that he will name a new interim skipper in "days, not weeks".
• Rizzo believes that Johnson would enjoy the challenge of managing the Nats, otherwise he wouldn't talk about it, Kilgore tweets.  Kilgore adds that there's a great chance that Johnson will be the choice.

Washington's 1-0 victory yesterday did more than just accentuate the shock resulting from Jim Riggleman's decision to resign. It meant that the Nationals were making a managerial change despite a winning record, 38-37. Though not a change of their own volition, it still represents a relative rarity in-season.

Riggleman is the 41st manager to be replaced in-season since the start of the 2001 campaign, and of the previous 40, just four had winning records at the time of the change. For fun, we'll include Jimy Williams as well, whose 2004 Astros were 44-44 when Houston replaced him with Phil Garner.

Considering that Riggleman left over the issue of his 2012 option, it is fair to think he wanted to keep on managing. Does leaving with a winning record augur good future employment prospects for Riggleman? Not necessarily.

The two most recent managers to leave while winning were Mike Hargrove, who resigned as Seattle manager with his 2007 Mariners at 45-33, and Ned Yost, fired with his 2008 Brewers at 83-67. Hargrove's not an ideal comparison, since he decided he didn't want to manage anymore. But Yost landed on his feet, taking over as manager of the Kansas City Royals in May 2010. And unlike Yost, who got his walking papers after getting swept in a four-game set, Riggleman certainly had his team playing well.

The other three managers to lose managerial positions with a .500 record or better are Larry Bowa, Jimy Williams and Jimy Williams. Let's start with the latter two, since it's the same guy. Williams actually knows what it is like to lose a managerial job in-season three times. The first came in 1989 with the Blue Jays, when his team's record then was just 12-24. But in 2001, with his Boston Red Sox at 65-53, Williams got the ax. It certainly didn't help Boston any; the Red Sox stumbled to a 17-26 finish.

Williams then landed a job managing Houston in 2002, leading the Astros to a pair of second-place finishes. But in 2004, with Houstonn at 44-44, Williams got fired again. This time, Houston flourished, making the playoffs under Garner. But this was the last managerial go-around for Williams. He served as Charlie Manuel's bench coach from 2006-2008 in Philadelphia, resigning after the Phillies won the World Series. The multiple stops make Williams a pretty decent comparison for Riggleman.

As for Larry Bowa, he was technically an in-season firing, but at 85-75, his season was essentially over. Bowa's Phillies won at least 80 games in each of the four seasons he was in charge, well over a decade after his failed tenure running the Padres. Bowa never managed again, topping out as a third base coach for Joe Torre with the Dodgers.

What could make for an interesting test regarding Riggleman is how his now-former team fares without him. Charlie Manuel, Bowa's successor, led the Phillies to a ton of postseason success, which reflects poorly on Bowa, player personnel differences aside. In the case of Williams, when his successor in Boston, Joe Kerrigan, faltered, Williams got another managing job. When his successor in Houston, Garner, led the Astros to the playoffs, he didn't.

In other words, it would probably be best for Jim Riggleman to see Washington fade, Marlins-in-June-style, over the remainder of the season. But given the acrimony surrounding his departure, I have a feeling Riggleman wasn't going to root for the Nats anyway.

Just minutes after Laynce Nix's walkoff sacrifice fly gave the Nationals a 1-0 win over the Mariners this afternoon, Jim Riggleman announced he was stepping down as Washington's manager.  Some of the early reaction and analysis of this sudden news…

• According to a statement released by Nats GM Mike Rizzo, he "talked to Jim before the season and have emphasized since that no decision would be made on his extension until after the end of the season.  I am surprised and disappointed, personally, and am even more disappointed for our players and fans.  I was always taught that one of the cardinal rules of baseball was that no individual can put his interests before those of the team."   
• Rizzo also said that Riggleman wanted his 2012 option picked up by the end of Washington's game this afternoon or else he'd resign, and Rizzo "was not willing to make judgments of that magnitude in the course of a nine inning game."  Riggleman tells MASNsports' Ben Goessling (Twitter link) that he didn't issue an ultimatum but “I wanted a conversation about it. I didn’t say, 'Pick up my option or else.' I said I think it’s worthy of a conversation."
• Goessling also has reaction from Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth and other Nats players about the surprising news.
• SI's Jon Heyman (Twitter link) thinks the blame lies with the Nationals since it "makes no sense" that the club wouldn't at least pick up Riggleman's 2012 option to keep their manager from being perceived as a lame duck.
• Riggleman's split with the Nats confirms the belief that he was a "place-holder" manager for the team, says CBSSports.com's Scott Miller.  "The thinking always was that Riggleman would only bring the Nationals to a certain point, and that when they were ready to win, someone else would be handed the keys to the car," Miller writes.
• Though obviously issues between he and the team had been lingering for a while, Riggleman's stance was seen as overly-aggressive by some pundits.  Newsday's Ken Davidoff (via Twitter) thinks even if Riggleman felt he wouldn't be back in Washington in 2012, he could've at least finished the season to better market himself for another team.  "I think he overplayed his hand here," Davidoff tweeted.  "Keep winning & the option would've taken care of itself." 
• A non-Nationals team official tells ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter link) that he "wouldn't hire [Riggleman] for Double-A or Triple-A job. You can't walk away… when you're under contract."
• Yahoo's Jeff Passan's tweeted response was more blunt: "I hope Jim Riggleman has a good 401(k), because no way he's ever managing another Major League team after this napalming."
• Writing for ESPN.com, Jim Bowden lists several names the Nationals could consider as their new manager, including in-house candidates John McLaren, Bob Boone and Bo Porter.  Randy Knorr, manager at Triple-A Syracuse, is a potential "long term solution," though Knorr hadn't been contacted about the job as of this evening, reports The Washington Post's Adam Kilgore (Twitter link).
• Davey Johnson is a senior advisor for the Nationals but Heyman (via Twitter) doesn't know if the former World Series-winning manager would take the job even if asked.

In a surprising move, Nationals manager Jim Riggleman has resigned, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson (Twitter link). Riggleman stepped down after his club beat the Mariners this afternoon and improved to 38-37 thanks to an impressive stretch over the course of which they've won 11 of 12 games.

The manager, who was in the final year of his contract, told GM Mike Rizzo that he would resign if his contract situation wasn't resolved, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Riggleman's agent, Burton Rocks, told Jon Heyman of SI.com that "they should have picked up the option" and that "it wore on Jim." Riggleman will manage again, according to his agent (Twitter link).

Rizzo had discussed picking up Riggleman's 2012 option, but felt the time wasn't right, according to Ben Goessling of MASNsports.com (Twitter links). The GM called Riggleman's decision "very disappointing to the players, fanbase, city and [himself]."

It's the second time this week that an NL East manager has resigned; Edwin Rodriguez of the Marlins stepped down over the weekend.